The Final Eight

The Maple Leaf is a massive, hulking, well...tree. He is the biggest Guardian and an immovable object which is great provided the bad guy walks right by him. He can control plant life which is kind of useless unless he knows where those plants from Jumanji are. "Always quick with a joke or a sarcastic barb, the Maple Leaf often disarms his opponents by bringing levity to tense situations." Fantastic news if The Wet Bandits happen to be running by. "He fires sticky 'sap' bombs from his fingertips that trap his opponents like an insect in amber," so I guess in 65 million years someone will be able to use his DNA to bring back us back after we go extinct.  

The Senator has his values kinda backwards. Apparently he didn't get the memo that slavery is bad and sold himself into it. His bravery in being a slave/gladiator allowed him to become Russel Crowe. He's over 2000 years old. You know how most people suck at driving when they're 70? Imagine this guy. Yikes.

A guy who loves the Miami nightlife, The Panther is yet another hero who doesn't take his job too seriously. Half man and half panther (who knew?), he can claw through any six inch steel walls. Now that the bad guys know that, they just have to make their fortresses 7 inches think and they're all set. I did learn something new though, apparently a shadow has elements. Go figure.

In trying to make this guy as diverse as possible, they forgot to give him a power. Seriously, this guy is a cop and that's about it. Other than some pretty cool weaponry, he's got nothing.

Relaxed and young, The Duck is a "rebel with a trust fund." You know those kids who grow up in a nice neighborhood with proper parents and a great education who try and act all gangster? That's this guy. His suit allows his to breathe underwater for a small amount of time and he can fly in short bursts. Or, you know, be a duck. He has a bunch of specialized surfboards and boots that serve the same purpose, they both allow him to glide quickly across the surface of the water. Can't he just pick one?

I got nothing. The Blue is actually pretty awesome.

The Islander is one of the toughest Guardians. I would be too if I had a metal shark suit on and chainmail suspenders, whatever the hell that is. He's kind of a shitty sailor in that what seaman enjoys being on land more? He can control ocean currents and, yet again, can control the weather. Come on, this is getting ridiculous now. They need to come up with new ideas, that's the fifth hero already that can control the weather.


















The Thrasher doesn't have much going for him other than the fact he can fly, the term 'hand cannons' doesn't give him much credibility either. He can fly, like, really really fast. He has titanium armor and can fire mini cruise missiles which is pretty cool. But those hand cannons... 

Prediction Reviews-Eastern Conference

Before the season began, I took a shot at predicting the end of season standings. As we are now halfway through the season I thought it would be a good idea to revisit my predictions. As it turns out, predicting where teams will finish is a lot more difficult than I had thought.

Atlantic Division
rank-team-(my prediction)
1. Pittsburgh Penguins (1)
2. Philadelphia Flyers (3)
3. New York Rangers (4)
4. New York Islanders (5)
5. New Jersey Devils (2)

Northeast Division
1. Boston Bruins (1)
2. Montreal Canadiens (3)
3. Buffalo Sabres (2)
4. Ottawa Senators (4)
5. Toronto Maple Leafs (5)

Southeast Division
1. Tampa Bay Lightning (2)
2. Washington Capitals (1)
3. Atlanta Thrashers (4)
4. Carolina Hurricanes (3)
5. Florida Panthers (5)

Here is a look at the conference as a whole:
rank-team-points-(my prediction)
1. Pittsburgh Penguins 56 (2)
2. Tampa Bay Lightning 53 (7)
3. Boston Bruins 48 (3)
4. Philadelphia Flyers 55 (5)
5. Washington Capitals 52 (1)
6. Atlanta Thrashers 50 (12)
7. New York Rangers 49 (11)
8. Montreal Canadiens 47 (9)
9. Carolina Hurricanes 42 (8)
10. Buffalo Sabres 39 (6)
11. Florida Panthers 38 (14)
12. Ottawa Senators 37 (10)
13. Toronto Maple Leafs 34 (13)
14. New York Islanders 30 (15)
15. New Jersey Devils 22 (4)

Biggest Surprises
Atlanta Thrashers: The Southeast Division as a whole is much better than I had anticipated. Steve Yzerman has done a phenomenal job in his first year as GM in Tampa Bay, revamping the team and speeding along their resurgence, but the Thrashers have really impressed me the most. that they are having their best season ever leads mt to believe there is a "Kovy Curse" and any team he plays on will greatly underachieve (more on that soon). The trade that landed them four players from last years Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks has really paid dividends for them. New captain Andrew Ladd has quietly been a great leader for them, s they have gone 15-6-3 since he was named captain on November 18, and Dustin Byfuglien has emerged out of nowhere to become one of the league's best defenseman. they are getting contributions across the lineup and goaltender Ondrej Pavelec has recovered from a scary incident during the first game of the season and has been terrific so far this season.

New Jersey Devils: There really isn't much I can say here that hasn't already been discussed. Nothing has gone right for them this year. Somehow, the entire team is out of shape and Martin Brodeur looks like he can't stop a beach ball on most nights. He has set numerous records in the past few seasons, but now it seems since he has nothing else left to prove, he has given up. Good news for Devils fans though, they only have 14.5 years left of Ilya Kovalchuk. Every team he has played on has underachieved; the Thrashers had a few promising teams in the early mid-2000s but could only muster up one playoff appearance in which they were swept by the New York Rangers, Team Russia completely flamed out during the Olympics last year, and the Devils hardly showed any life in a five game loss to the Flyers last year. Usually his team loses while he gets pretty goals, but this year they aren't even getting that. Changes have begun recently with the firing of coach John MacLean and today's trade of captain Jamie Langenbrunner back to Dallas, but they still have plenty of work to do before they get back to respectability.

As it looks now, the playoff picture is pretty much set. The Carolina Hurricanes are in 9th place, five points behind Montreal for the eighth and final spot. There is always a chance for the 'Canes, or even the Sabres, Panthers, or Senators to go on a hot streak and pull closer to playoff position, but unlike the Western Conference, there is a clear distinction between the upper echelon and the bottom feeders of the conference.

Offseason Recap-Southeast Division

Finishing up the Eastern Conference, here is a look at the Southeast Division. Expect a few teams other than the Capitals to make the playoff from the Southeast this season.


Washington Capitals - 1
Key Signings
7/2: G Dany Sabourin (BOS) 1 year
7/7: D Jeff Schultz (re-signed) 4 years
7/7: LW Kyle Greentree (CHI) 2 years
7/8: RW Eric Fehr (re-signed) 2 years
7/14: RW Brian Willsie (COL) 1 year
7/15: RW Andrew Gordon (re-signed) 1 year
7/15: D Patrick McNeill (re-signed) 1 year
7/27: LW Tomas Fleischmann (re-signed)
Trades
7/28: F D.J. King from STL for F Stefan Della Rouvere
Departures
D Milan Jurcina (NYI)
D Joe Corvo (CAR)
D Shaone Morrison (BUF)
C Brendan Morrison
G Jose Theodore
RW Scott Walker
C Eric Belanger
What To Expect
Not many changes were made this summer in Washington, a team that should once again take advantage of a weak division to help them finish on top of the conference. The Capitals have a great cast of support players to complement the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green and GM George McPhee spent the summer re-signing them. Major changes have all come in the form of subtractions, most notably veteran goalie Jose Theodore which will leave to door open for youngsters Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth to fight for the starting job. There really isn't much left to prove in the regular season, as the Capitals really need to focus all their attention to April and beyond.


Tampa Bay Lightning - 7
Key Signings
7/1: G Dan Ellis (NAS) 2 years
7/2: D Pavel Kubina (ATL) 2 years
7/5: D Brett Clark (COL) 2 years
7/6: RW Teddy Purcell (re-signed) 1 year
7/6: D Mike Lundin (re-signed) 1 year
7/15: C Blair Jones (re-signed)
7/16: C Paul Szczechura (re-signed) 1 year
7/16: C Nate Thompson (re-signed) 1 year
7/25: LW Chris Durno (COL) 1 year
7/29: D Mathieu Roy (CLB) 1 year
7/30: C Dominic Moore (MON) 2 years
8/11: LW Juraj Simek (re-signed) 1 year
8/17: LW Sean Bergenheim (NYI) 1 year
8/25: RW Steve Downie (re-signed) 2 years
8/25: D Randy Jones (LA) 1 year
Trades
7/1: 2nd round draft pick (2012) from PHI for D Andrej Meszaros
7/19: LW Simon Gagne from PHI for D Matt Walker and 4th round draft pick (2011)
8/16: G Cedrick Desjardins from MON for G Karri Ramo
8/27: F Alex Berry and F Stefano Giliati from TOR for D Matt Lashoff
Departures
LW Alex Tanguay (CAL)
G Antero Niittymaki (SJ)
D Kurtis Foster (EDM)
F Zenon Konopka (NYI)
D David Hale (OTT)
What To Expect
Rookie GM Steve Yzerman has had quite a summer in his first time away from Detroit. Stability in the front office combined with some key new faces should go a long way towards bringing Tampa Bay back into the playoff picture. The addition of Simon Gagne came relatively risk free, acquired for Matt Walker and with one year left on his contract. Should he stay healthy the Lightning will have two solid scoring lines. Dan Ellis will challenge Mike Smith for the starting job; the two former Stars should push each other and provide the team with solid goaltending. On defense Andrej Meszaros and Kurtis Foster are gone, replaced by Pavel Kubina, a member of their 2004 Stanley Cup team, and Brett Clark.


Carolina Hurricanes - 8
Key Signings
7/1: LW Jonathan Matsumoto (PHI) 2 years, two way, $1.025 M/$210,000
7/5: G Justin Peters (re-signed) 2 years, two way, $1.05 M/$210,000
7/7: D Joe Corvo (WAS) 2 years, $4.5 M
7/7: D Casey Borer (re-signed) 1 year, two way, $500,000/$65,000
7/12: C Nick Dodge (re-signed) 1 year, two way, $500,000/$55,000
7/15: D Bryan Rodney (re-signed) 1 year, two way, $525,000/$105,000
7/20: D Brett Carson (re-signed) 1 year, two way, $500,000/$105,000
Trades
5/13: RW Jared Staal from PHO for 5th round draft pick (2010)
6/26: C Riley Nash from EDM for 2nd round draft pick (2010)
6/26: D Bobby Sanguinetti from NYR for 6th round draft pick (2010) and 2nd round draft pick (2011)
6/26: C Jonathan Matsumoto from PHI for 7th round draft pick (2010)
Departures
LW Ray Whitney (PHO)
C Rod Brind'Amour
G Manny Legace
D Brian Pothier
What To Expect
The Hurricanes are going to benefit, more than anything else this season, from a healthy lineup. Injuries and a slow start (that's putting it lightly) were what caused Carolina to miss the playoffs last season. Heart and soul leader Rod Brind'Amour has retired and offensive linchpin Ray Whitney moved on to Phoenix making this 100% Eric Staal's team. Joe Corvo is back with the team after being traded to Washington during last season's trade deadline.


Atlanta Thrashers - 12
Key Signings
7/1: G Chris Mason (STL)
7/7: LW Eric Boullton (re-signed)
7/22: G Ondrej Pavelec (re-signed) 2 years
7/28: LW Ben Eager (CHI)
7/29: LW Andrew Ladd (CHI) 1 year, $2.35 M
8/19: D Freddy Meyer (NYI) 1 year
8/23: RW Bryan Little (re-signed)
Trades
6/23: LW Dustin Byfuglien, D Brent Sopel, LW Ben Eager, and RW Akim Aliu from CHI for 24th overall draft pick (2010), 2nd round draft pick (2010), C Marty Reasoner, LW Jeremy Morin, and RW Joey Crabb
6/24: Future Considerations from SJ for D Mike Vernace, LW Brett Sterling, and 7th round draft pick (2010)
7/1: Andrew Ladd from CHI for D Ivan Vishnevsky and 2nd round draft pick (2011)
8/2: F Patrick Rissmiller and LW Donald Brashear from NYR for C Todd White
Departures
RW Colby Armstrong (TOR)
G Johan Hedberg (NJ)
D Pavel Kubina (TB)
LW Vyacheslav Kozlov
LW Clarke MacArthur (TOR)
What To Expect
Many GMs try to take the style of the former Stanley Cup winner, Atlanta GM Rick Dudley just takes the players from them. Four players from the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks are now members of the Thrashers. Defenseman Brent Sopel will take a spot in place of Pavel Kubina who bolted back to Tampa Bay. Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, and Ben Eager combine to add depth throughout the forward lines. The signing of Chris Mason and the re-signing of Ondrej Pavelec should give the Thrashers stable goaltending, an upgrade over the injury plagued Kari Lehtonen who was traded to Dallas last season.


Florida Panthers - 14
Key Signings
7/2: Chris Higgins (CAL) 1 year
7/7: D Jason Garrison (re-signed) 2 years
7/7: D Nathan Paetsch (CLB) 1 year
8/3: D Mike Weaver (STL) 2 years
8/19: LW Andrew Peters (NJ) 1 year
Trades
6/22: D Dennis Wideman, 15th overall draft pick (2010), and 3rd round draft pick (2011) from BOS for RW Nathan Horton and C Gregory Campbell
6/25: RW Steve Bernier, RW Michael Grabner, and 1st round draft pick (2010) from VAN for D Keith Ballard and RW Victor Oreskovich
7/22: C Marty Reasoner from CHI for F Jeff Taffe
Departures
None
What To Expect
For a team that didn't lose anyone without a return, the Panthers did not get any better this season. Dennis Wideman replaces Keith Ballard and Chris Higgins replaces Nathan Horton, but otherwise the team remains largely the same. They will benefit from having David Booth on the ice, provided he keeps his head up when Mike Richards is around. Tomas Vokoun return as starting goalie, but he can only do so much. The rebuild continues.

Sources: NHL.com Free Agent Tracker, TSN.ca Trade Center, The Hockey News Yearbook